Taglines: Ever feel like you don’t belong?
Brad Gluckman (Jamie Kennedy) is a wannabe rap star from Malibu who acts and talks like he’s from the “‘hood.” Concerned that his son is going to embarrass him during his campaign to become the governor of California, Brad’s wealthy father and his campaign manager (Underwood), hire two trained actors (Diggs and Anderson) to disguise themselves as “real life gangstaz”, and kidnap his son, dropping him off in the “real hood” in Compton, in an effort to scare the ghettofied attitude and behavior out of him.
Malibu’s Most Wanted is a comedy film written by and starring Jamie Kennedy and co-starring Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Regina Hall, Damien Dante Wayans, Ryan O’Neal, and Snoop Dogg. The film is written by the creators of MADtv, Fax Bahr and Adam Small, who also serve as producers.
The character of “B-Rad” (a spoof of Eminem’s character “B-Rabbit” in the film 8 Mile) originally appeared in Jamie Kennedy’s hidden-camera show The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, but started in his stand-up routine when he was starting out. The film was given a PG-13 rating by the MPAA. To keep it, the film’s end-credits were edited to prevent the film from receiving a R.
Bradley ‘B-Rad’ Gluckman (Jamie Kennedy) is a young privileged white guy from Malibu, with aspirations of being “the biggest rapper that ever was”. B-Rad dresses and speaks like a gangster and essentially thinks and acts like he is black. His father, Bill Gluckman (Ryan O’Neal), is running for governor of California.
After Bill’s campaign manager Tom Gibbons (Blair Underwood) gets irritated with B-Rad’s constant interruptions with the election, Bill decides that B-Rad must see a psychiatrist, Dr. Feldman (Jeffrey Tambor). Dr. Feldman tells B-Rad’s parents Bill and Bess (Bo Derek) that B-Rad has the most serious case of “gangstaphrienia” that he has ever seen. Tom then has an idea to hire two actors, PJ (Anthony Anderson) and Sean James (Taye Diggs) to try to scare B-Rad back to normal. Although Bill thinks it could get dangerous, he reluctantly agrees. With the help of PJ’s cousin Shondra (Regina Hall), they kidnap B-Rad and take him to the ghetto.
Shondra tries to convince B-Rad that if he stops acting like a gangster, they will let him go. B-Rad tries to tell Shondra he cannot, it is who he is. The actors then try plan B, forcing B-Rad to rob a convenience store owned by a Korean American family. Later, realizing they forgot to call to tell the owner that the robbery was fake, PJ and Sean begin to worry the plan will fail and they will go to jail. B-Rad finds his emergency stash of cash in his pants and pays for the alcohol he was supposed to steal. B-Rad then lies to them and says he stole it. When they find a receipt in the back, B-Rad says he stole that, too.
Directed by: John Whitesell
Starring: Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Regina Hall, Damien Dante Wayans, Ryan O’Neal, Snoop Dogg
Screenplay by: Fax Bahr, Adam Small
Production Design by: William A. Elliott
Cinematography by: Mark Irwin
Film Editing by: Cara Silverman
Costume Design by: Debrae Little
Set Decoration by: John H. Anderson, William J. Durrell Jr.
Music by: John Van Tongeren
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: April 18. 2003